


Renewing A Friendship

by afteriwake



Series: In The City [1]
Category: CSI: NY, Castle
Genre: Angry Beckett, Depressed Flack, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Johanna Beckett Case Arc, Male-Female Friendship, Old Friends, Post-Episode s05e25 Pay Up, Post-Episode: s01e10 A Death In The Family, Renewing A Friendship, Talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-18
Updated: 2017-05-18
Packaged: 2018-11-02 06:52:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10939251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: Kate pays an old friend a visit after he loses someone close to him.





	Renewing A Friendship

**Author's Note:**

> I'd toyed around with writing this crossover before, and someone asked for a Castle/NY crossover, but I put it off. Then I saw one that **eternal_sadist** did and it sparked this. This was my first time writing Castle characters, so be gentle? Spoilers for "A Death in the Family" and "Pay Up."

She hadn't talked to him too much in the last few years, but every once in a while they'd catch up over a beer and a game of pool. But she'd ventured less and less to Sullivan's once Castle started shadowing her, and he stopped coming to her station when he began dating the detective he worked with. So it had been almost a year from the last time she'd seen him to tonight when she was standing outside his apartment.

She had her moles in the crime lab, mainly Lanie down in the morgue, so when she heard that Flack's girlfriend was killed in the Dunbrook kid's transport to court she figured it might not be a bad idea to reach out to him. She had an idea of how he felt, maybe more than some of his other friends, and she _was_ someone he'd been close to once. Maybe it would help.

She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. After a minute it opened, and she was shocked at what she saw. "Don," she said quietly.

"I really look like shit, don't I?" he said with a sigh.

"You want the truth?"

"Yeah," he said with a nod.

"You look like shit."

He grinned, just a little, and opened the door wider. "Come on in, Kate."

She walked in. He'd changed things since the last time she'd been there a little over a year ago. It was very obvious there had been a woman's touch to the apartment, and she idly wondered if they'd moved in together at some point. She really _had_ lost touch with him, she realized with a pang of regret. When she couldn't even tell how serious the relationship had been, that was a sign.

It also made her wonder if showing up had been the right idea.

"Want a beer?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No. Thanks, though." He shrugged slightly and headed into the kitchen. This was the first time she'd ever seen him in sweatpants, and he pulled it off. He was one of those guys who looked good in everything. And once upon a time, she'd wondered what he'd look like with nothing at all on. It surprised her that she didn't wonder as much right now. She refocused her attention on him when he came back with a beer and a bottle of water. "I swear, Don, you always were able to read minds," she said as she took the water.

"I still remember you like to have something to drink when you talk, and if it wasn't beer or hard stuff than it was water."

She nodded and took the top off the bottle and took a long drink. For some reason, her throat felt tight and scratchy, like she'd been sick. She knew she was just imagining it, though. When she was done, she looked at him. "It's been too long."

He nodded. "Yeah." He looked down at his beer. "Who told you?"

She knew what she meant. "Lanie. I've been busy with some problems, but when she heard she mentioned it to me since we were friends."

"What kind of problems?" he asked, moving over to his couch.

She followed and sat down when he did. "You sure you want to know?"

He nodded. "Need to get my mind off things. It's part of the reason I look like shit right now."

"Well, it's a guy problem. And not the kind of guy problem I usually have."

"Guy used to be a girl?" he asked with a completely straight face until he saw her grin, and then he smiled. She hated to say it, but right at that moment, it looked almost unnatural on his face. Still, if he could smile and make bad jokes, it was progress.

"No. Guy is a famous novelist who decided to base the new heroine of his new series on me."

Flack blinked and then his eyes widened. "You're the detective that Castle guy is following around?"

She winced slightly. "Ah. Now everyone knows."

"No, not everyone. But Stell is a fan of his novels, and she was disappointed he wasn't following her around."

"She should be _thankful_ he's not following her around. My life is hell these days, and it's all Rick Castle's fault." She felt herself get angry again, just like she had at the hospital when he'd told her what he'd done behind her back, and she calmed herself down again.

But not before Flack noticed. "What's wrong?"

She shut her eyes. "He started digging into my mom's case behind my back. He thinks she was the victim of a serial killer."

Flack whistled slightly. "Kate, I'm sorry," he said softly, putting his beer on the table and moving closer to her.

"Hey, I'm supposed to be here helping you, not the other way around," she said with a catch in her voice as she opened her eyes. He didn't reach out to touch her, but he stayed close, and if she admitted it to herself she appreciated it. Only Lanie had seen her cry over this, and she didn't want to break down in front of Flack. If he touched her she'd fall apart, though. She just knew it.

"You don't have to think about it that way," he said. "Just being here distracting me is good enough. You, though...it took you a long time to get over what happened. Are you sure you're okay?"

She nodded slowly. "Getting there."

He paused for a moment, and then reached out and gently grabbed her hand. She looked down and was amazed that she didn't burst into tears again like she had when Lanie had hugged her. Something in his touch was comforting, and it gave her strength. She looked at him and knew that no matter what, this was a friendship that would be renewed, that would be treated better this time around. She smiled at him a little, and he squeezed her hand. Maybe they needed each other right now, but that was okay. That's what friends were for, after all.


End file.
